Teachers’ professional identities and perezhivaniya in adopting technology-assisted language teaching: A longitudinal Q-methodology Approach
Keywords:
teachers’ professional identity, language other than English teacher, emotion, perezhivanie, Q methodologyAbstract
This study examined the emotional experiences of 13 Japanese-as-foreign-language teachers, using Vygotskian concept of “perezhivanie” in the context of technology-assisted language teaching (TALT) at a northeastern Chinese university. Employing a longitudinal Q Methodology the research tracks the evolution of their professional identities as they engage with TALT over 15 months. Analysis reveals two main professional identities initially – the “advocate of online teaching” and the “supporter of offline teaching”. However, a new identity, the “regretter”, emerges in the second phase, reflecting a sense of missed opportunities in contributing to online course development. By examining educators’ professional identities through perezhivanie, this study highlights the dynamics between their cognitive processes, emotional responses, and technology shaping teacher professional identity within the evolving landscape of TALT.
Downloads
References
Ashton, K. (2022). Language teacher agency in emergency online teaching. System, 105, 102713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102713.
Barahona, M., & Toledo-Sandoval, F. (2025). Exploring Chilean EFL student teachers’ development of teacher identity through perezhivanie. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 24(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2022.2075875.
Banasick, S. (2019). KADE: A desktop application for Q methodology. The Journal of Open Source Software, 4, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01360.
Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2009). Understanding teacher identity: An overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(2), 175–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057640902902252.
Beijaard, D., Verloop, N., & Vermunt, J. D. (2000). Teachers’ perceptions of professional identity: An exploratory study from a personal knowledge perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 749–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00023-8.
Burri, M., Chen, H., & Baker, A. (2017). Joint development of teacher cognition and identity through learning to teach L2 pronunciation. The Modern Language Journal, 101(1), 128-142. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12388.
Chen, J. (2021). Refining the teacher emotion model: Evidence from a review of literature published between 1985 and 2019. Cambridge Journal of Education, 51, 327–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2020.1831440.
Chen, Z., Sun, Y., & Jia, Z. (2022). A study of student-teachers’ emotional experiences and their development of professional identities. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 810146. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.810146.
Chun, D., Kern, R., & Smith, B. (2016). Technology in language use, language teaching, and language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12302.
Day, C., & Kington, A. (2008). Identity, well‐being and effectiveness: the emotional contexts of teaching. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 16(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360701877743.
Derakhshan, A. (2022). The “5Cs” positive teacher interpersonal behaviors: Implications for learner empowerment and learning in an L2 context. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031165276.
Derakhshan, A., Moradi., F., & Nazari, M. (2024). Conceptualising the role of practice level in language teacher identity construction: An identities-in-practice study. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(2): 797–811. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12533.
Eslamdoost, S., King, K. A., & Tajeddin, Z. (2020). Professional identity conflict and (re) construction among English teachers in Iran. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 19(5), 327–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2019.1676157.
El-Soussi, M. (2022). The shift from face-to-face to online teaching due to COVID-19: Its impact on higher education faculty’s professional identity. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 100139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100139.
Fleer, M., & Hammer, M. (2013). ‘Perezhivanie’ in group settings: A cultural-historical reading of emotion regulation. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 38(3), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693911303800316.
Freeman, D. (2016). Educating second language teachers. Oxford University Press.
Gao, X., & Zheng, Y. (2019). Multilingualism and higher education in Greater China. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(7), 555–561. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1571073.
Golombek, P. R., & Klager, P. (2015). Play and imagination in developing language teacher identity-in-activity. Ilha Do Desterro, 68(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2015v68n1p17.
Guichon, N. (2024). Sur les traces de Richard Kern: Acknowledging the pivotal role of technologies in language education. The Modern Language Journal, 108(2), 563–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12931.
Hong, J., Francis, D., & Schutz, P. A. (2024). Reconceptualizing teacher identity development. Educational Psychologist, 59(3), 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2023.2292713.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2020). Informing and transforming language teacher education pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 24(1), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818777539.
Jonker, H., März, V., & Voogt, J. (2018). Teacher educators’ professional identity under construction: The transition from teaching face-to-face to a blended curriculum. Teaching and Teacher Education, 71, 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.12.016.
Kang, M., Shen, Q., & Zheng, Y. (2022). LOTE (Languages Other than English) teachers’ emotions and professional identity in response to educational reforms: A social-psychological perspective. Sustainability, 14, 10788. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710788.
Kim, T. (2021). Perezhivaniya in L2 learning and motivation from a sociocultural perspective: A qualitative analysis of retrospective L2 learning essays. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 30, 100521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2021.100521.
Lantolf, J. P., & Swain, M. (2019). On the emotion–cognition dialectic: A sociocultural response to prior. Modern Language Journal, 103, 528–530. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12574.
Lantolf, J., & Swain, M. (2020). Perezhivanie: The cognitive–emotional dialectic within the social situation of development. In A. Al–Hoorie & P. MacIntyre (Eds.), Contemporary language motivation theory: 60 years since Gardner and Lambert (1959) (pp. 80–105). Multilingual Matters.
Lasky, S. (2005). A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency, and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(8), 899–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.06.003.
Mahmoudi-Gahrouei, V., Tavakoli, M., & Hamman, D. (2016). Understanding what is possible across a career: professional identity development beyond transition to teaching. Asia Pacific Educational Review, 17, 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-016-9457-2.
Morea, N. (2022). Investigating change in subjectivity: The analysis of Q-sorts in longitudinal research. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 1, 100025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2022.100025.
Morea, N., & Ghanbar, H. (2024). Q methodology in applied linguistics: A systematic research synthesis. System, 120, 103194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.103194.
Ng, C. (2021). Japanese students’ emotional lived experiences in English language learning, learner identities, and their transformation. The Modern Language Journal, 105(4), 810–828. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12739.
Qin, L., & Derakhshan, A. (2025). College English teachers’ agency in using GAI from the lens of perezhivanie: A Q-method study. Foreign Language Education in China, 8(3), 72–84. https://doi.org/10.20083/j.cnki.fleic.2025.0029
Qin, L., & Dong, J. (2025). EFL learners’ perceptual perezhivaniya and actual writing revision behaviors mediated by GenAI: A sociocultural theory perspective. System, 133, 103769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2025.103769
Qin, L., Dong, J., & Zhang, A. (2025). English learner’s perezhivanie in GAI-mediated narrative writing modification: A Q-method study of continuation writing teaching. China Foreign Language, 22(2), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2025.02.007
Qin, L., Jiang, W., & Wang, Y. (2023). The construction of evaluation framework for foreign language materials based on ecological affordance theory: An analysis of multimodal contents of ideological and moral education in the textbook. Foreign Language World, (6), 23–31.
Qin, L., & Ren, W. (2021). Investigating affordance in technology-enriched language learning environment through exploring students’ perezhivanija. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 44(2), 187–202. https://doi.org/10.1515/CJAL-2021-0011
Qin, L., Yao, L., & Jin, Y. (2022). Unpacking the interaction between foreign language learners’ emotion, cognition, and activity in the flipped classroom in higher education: A perezhivanie perspective. Frontiers of Psychology, 13, 1005237. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005237
Rodrigues, F., & Mogarro, M. J. (2019). Student teachers’ professional identity: A review of research Contributions. Educational Research Review, 28, 100286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100286.
Sang, Y. (2022). Research of language teacher identity: Status quo and future directions. RELC Journal, 53(3), 731–738. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220961567.
Shafiee, Z., Marandi, S. S., Mirzaeian, V. R. (2022). Teachers’ technology-related self-images and roles: Exploring CALL teachers’ professional identity. Language Learning & Technology, 26(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10125/73472.
Su, H., Zhang, J., Li, P., Pu, D., & Shang, L. (2024). The relationships between Chinese teachers’ emotions, professional identity, and teaching for creativity: The mediating role of emotional intelligence. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 52, 101531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2024.101531.
Swain, M. (2013). The inseparability of cognition and emotion in second language learning. Language Teaching, 46(2), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000486.
Teng, M. F. (2017). Emotional development and construction of teacher identity: Narrative interactions about the pre-service teachers’ practicum experiences. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(11), 117–134. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2017v42n11.8.
Uştuk, Ö., & Yazan, B. (2024). Pedagogizing identity through perezhivanie: A longitudinal study of identity-oriented practicum in Türkiye. Teaching and Teacher Education, 146, 104643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104643.
Veresov, N. (2016). Perezhivanie as a phenomenon and a concept: Questions on clarification and methodological mediations. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 12(3), 129–148. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2016120308.
Veresov, N., & Mok, K. (2018). Understanding development through the perezhivanie of learning. In J. P. Lantolf, M. E. Poehner, & M. Swain (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sociocultural theory and second language development (pp. 89–101). Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. (1994). The problem of the environment. In J. Valsiner & R. Van der Veer (Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 338–354). Blackwell.
Wang, K. (2022). Challenges to foreign language teachers and their vision-based solutions. Contemporary Foreign Language Studies, 6, 5–11.
Wang, W., & Derakhshan, A. (2024). Contextual factors shaping the professional identity of Chinese teachers in an English as a foreign language instructional context: Exploring the role of school climate and administrator leadership behavior. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12653.
Wang, Y., Derakhshan, A. & Zhang L. J. (2021). Researching and practicing positive psychology in second/foreign language learning and teaching: The past, current status and future directions. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 731721. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.731721.
Watts, S. (2015). Develop a Q methodological study. Education for Primary Care, 26(6), 435–437. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2015.1101855.
Watts, S., & Stenner, P. (2012). Doing Q methodological research: Theory, method and interpretation. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Webler, T., Danielson, S., & Tuler, S. (2009). Using Q method to reveal social perspectives in environmental research. Social and Environmental Research Institute. http://www.seri-us.org/sites/default/files/Qprimer.pdf.
Wei, G. (2021). Imagined professional identity: A narrative inquiry into a Chinese teacher’s perezhivaniya in life. Teaching and Teacher Education, 102, 103337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103337.
Weng, Z., Troyan, F. J., Fernández, L., & McGuire, M. (2024). Examining language teacher identity and intersectionality across instructional contexts through the experience of perezhivanie. TESOL Quarterly, 58(2), 567–599. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3237.
Westberry, N., McNaughton, S., Billot, J., & Gaeta, H. (2015). Resituation or resistance? Higher education teachers’ adaptations to technological change. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24(1), 101–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2013.869509.
Wong, C. Y. E., & Liu, W. C. (2024). Evaluating the teacher professional identity of student teachers: Development and validation of the teacher professional identity scale. Journal of Education, 204(1), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574221101375.
Wu, H., & Pan, Z. (2025). What deserves studying the most? A Q methodology approach to explore stakeholders’ perspectives on research priorities in GenAI-supported second language education. European Journal of Education, 60(1), e12898. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12898.
Xu, H. (2013). From the imagined to the practiced: A case study on novice EFL teachers’ professional identity change in China. Teaching and Teacher Education, 31(3), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.01.006.
Yan, C., & Wang, L. (2022). Experienced EFL teachers switching to online teaching: A case study from China. System, 105, 102717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102717.
Yan, Y., Bava Harji, M., & Kannan, S. (2024). English teacher identity measure: Development and validation in a Chinese EFL context. Cogent Education, 11(1), 2293983. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2293983.
Yoshikawa, T. (2013, December 1). China becomes the world’s top-ranking nation of Japanese-language learning. Retrieved October 2, 2023, from https://www.wochikochi.jp/english/special/2013/12/china-becomes-the-worlds-top-ranking-nation-of-japanese-language-learning.php.
Zare, J., Aqajani Delavar, K., & Derakhshan, A. (2023). The impact of altruism on the emotions and English summary writing skills of second language learners: An intervention study in light of positive psychology. Language Teaching Research, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231151632
Zembylas, M. (2004). The emotional characteristics of teaching: An ethnographic study of one teacher. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2003.09.008.
Zhang, L., Hwang, Y. (2023). “Should I change myself or not?”: Examining (Re)constructed language teacher identity during the COVID-19 pandemic through text-mining. Teaching and Teacher Education, 127, 104092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104092.
Zhang, Y., Lantolf, J. P., & Meng, Y. (2022). The emotion ~ intellect dialectic in an EFL teacher’s development of a research identity: A sociocultural perspective. System, 111, 102954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102954.
Zheng, Y., Lu, X., & Ren, W. (2020). Tracking the evolution of Chinese learners’ multilingual motivation through a longitudinal Q methodology. The Modern Language Journal, 108(1), 781–803. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12672.
FUNDING INFORMATION:
National Philosophy and Social Science Fund General Project: Research on the Multi-Dimensional Coordinating Mechanism of Second Language Learner Agency in the Context of Digital and Intelligent Technologies (24BYY112); Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Project: Research on the Foreign Language Learner Agency under the Integrated Digital Resource Educational Model (GD24CWY08); Guangdong Provincial Education Department Higher Education Teaching Quality Engineering Project: Reform and Practice Based on the Intelligent Teaching Model—Taking “Academic English Writing” as an Example (No Project Number).
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Lili Qin, Baogui Niu

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.